Days 62 and 63

Miles – 0 on Thursday and 56 on Friday

Total miles – 3558

On Thursday I took a rest day because I am two days ahead of schedule and I love Annapolis.  When I lived in Baltimore I always enjoyed visiting the historic town with its shops and restaurants along the Chesapeake Bay. 

Again, my friend Mike Ortman had arranged visits by all three major TV stations in Baltimore.  I donned my riding gear even though I wasn’t riding today and from 10:30 to 12:30 all three networks showed up.  They had me biking up and down the street in front of my hotel while they filmed.  Appropriately, it rained during one of the tapings.

My friends Mark Matje and Walt Brod are biking to Annapolis today to meet up with me and ride.  Mark and Walt had arranged to meet at the trail head of the B&A trail at the BWI airport and ride together to Annapolis.  Simple, right?  Mark would ride the NCRR trail from York, PA to Hunt Valley, MD; hop on the light rail train to BWI.  Walt would grab the Amtrak train from 30^th Street Station in Philly and ride to BWI where he would meet Mark.  What’s the saying? Man plans, God laughs.  Mark’s part of the trip went  well…Walt’s, not so good.  Walt’s wife, Diana drove Walt to the train station where he learned that his train was delayed an hour.  When it was time to queue up for the train and he approached the gate with his bike, he was told that he was not permitted to take his bike on Amtrak unless it was a folding bike or disassembled and boxed.  His only option was to have Diana turn around and return to Philadelphia and drive him to Annapolis.  We finally all joined together.  Diana decide to stay so the four of us went into town to have dinner at McGarvey’s.  As we left the ice cream parlor, I noticed somebody on the deck of a 52’ sail boat moored across the street, the Gusto II from Camp Hill, PA.  I grew up in Camp Hill and was curious so I crossed the street and approached the boat. 

I asked the skipper his name…Bill Balaban! Bill and I both graduated from high school the same year but he went to Trinity and I went to Camp Hill High.  We traveled in the same circles and, while we weren’t close friends, we knew each other.  I hadn’t seen him in 40 years.  He is the second oldest of 13 children. His Dad was a prominent lawyer and the former Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner.  Bill was an attorney and had taken over Dad’s practice.  He invited all of us onboard his boat for adult beverages. What a great boat and it just doesn’t get any better than sitting aboard a yacht with a view of historic Annapolis as the sun goes down and the town fills with summer tourists.  Bill had brought the boat over with his good friend a sailing buddy, Jim.  We had a great time telling stories and laughing.  Again…what are the chances that I would meet up on the trip with a fellow Camp Hill resident after 40 years?

Day 63 – On Friday, my good friend and fellow Willis associate, Ed Amos, agreed to pick us up in his SUV and transport us over the Bay Bridge.  Bikes are not permitted on the bridge and the shuttle service that had performed this service had been a casualty of state budget cuts.  Ed came down and had breakfast with us and we loaded up the bikes.  Once over the bridge, we decided that Route 404 would be too dangerous, so Ed directed us to Route 18.  We assembled our bikes along the side of the road and shoved off on our way to Harrington, DE our home for the night. 

 Mark, Walt and I decided to stay on country roads.  With the help of my map, we rode on a series of secondary roads through Maryland farmland on generous shoulders with very little traffic. It was a perfect weather day providing sun shine and a slight breeze at our backs. 

We finally crossed into Delaware and arrived in Harrington, found our hotel and jumped into the swimming pool.

Tomorrow is the last day of my ride.  It hasn’t really hit me yet…the last day of my ride.  I glad to be sharing it with my friends.

David

August 7, 2009